Still hope for Chatham's weakest link

Friday

Jul 27, 2007 at 12:15 PM

The mid-April breach and new widening inlet at the National Seashore in Chatham occurred right where everyone knew it would eventually happen — the weakest link, the lowest and narrowest area lacking much of any natural vegetation to hold sand in place and encourage its building.

DICK FRAZEE

The mid-April breach and new widening inlet at the National Seashore in Chatham occurred right where everyone knew it would eventually happen — the weakest link, the lowest and narrowest area lacking much of any natural vegetation to hold sand in place and encourage its building.

Taking action to rebuild and stabilize this area was not allowed by National Seashore policy. But this is also Chatham's protective barrier beach, and restoration and preservation is vital to Chatham's future, townwide. I believe that it is physically possible to fill the new inlet; financially an exceedingly small cost relative to the benefit gained; affordable by our town without outside help — and that all of us (not just town officials) have a responsibility to stand up and assert our right to protect our property, economy and way of life.

If we vote significantly in support of rebuilding and protecting our barrier beach, we will be heard in Washington.

The National Seashore needs new instruction from outside higher authority to be able to permit restoration. I believe it will happen — if we stand up to demand the right to protect our future.

I am writing this from my late parents' modest retirement home purchased in 1966 on Ryders Cove, a location relatively protected from the direct ocean waves. I have lived on the Cape since 1971 as a Chatham voter, and the vote I remember most vividly was one now many years ago of the 100 percent unanimous approval of building the current fish pier — which to me is the heart of Chatham.

Navigation access to the fish pier and the future of our fishing fleet is at huge risk because of the new inlet. This is our unique heritage — part of the character of Chatham that makes it so appealing — and a way of life for real people trying to make a living.

Unfortunately benefits of the minimal increase in water exchange are already being or are likely to be offset by silting of the seabed and filling in of navigation channels from new sediment movement. Further, no one seams to have realized that the higher high tides also mean higher water constantly eating away at the inside of the entire barrier beach, further narrowing it and hastening other weak links and breaches. We could experience, far sooner than imagined, greater water exchange than we would ever want to encounter.

Our summer residents, who own most of the waterfront property directly at risk, form a large part of our tax base. They help support our service industries and retail establishments themselves and with their many guests, and more — all without adding to the cost of children in our school system. They care a lot about Chatham. Yet they have no vote in this vital matter at the upcoming special town meeting. We need to stand up for them both as fellow members of the community and through our appreciation and practical understanding of the contribution they make to our economy and way of life. We have a responsibility to do our best to prevent further heartbreak of beloved homes lost, as happened so sadly 20 years ago.

How many moorings and how many trailers are for Chatham homeowners not living on the waterfront but enjoying fishing and recreational boating in waters protected by our barrier beach? How important is this to our way of life and the core economy of Chatham? These embayments and access to them are being taken away by the sea, but it is within our power and, I believe, our responsibility to take them back and to protect our future.

I, too, have great respect for the power of the sea, which can be a very destructive force. However, I see the words "let nature takes its course" as numbing us from thinking this through and finding out what really is in our own constructive power to do. As much as experience at sea and local knowledge matters, we need to look outside our own Cape Cod region to see what other seaside towns may have done successfully.

That is part of the job of Ted Keon, our director of coastal resources. He told the waterways advisory committee last week that he has determined it is indeed possible to fill the new inlet with a large oceangoing dredge, perhaps using some of the sand that has been forming the inward hook just above the lighthouse, narrowing the channel there. That narrowing causes the velocity of the tidal exchange to increase, adding to the scouring of sand at the base of the revetments there, a problem already leading to their failure.

Please take another look and consider Chatham's future carefully. Please support and vote for Article 1 to close the beach in our barrier beach (and debt exclusion election) and for Article 2 to get added outside professional evaluation of a shoreline protection plan. I recommend withdrawal of the outside funding resolution.

Please stand up and let's stand together to protect our beloved seaside jewel.